Betcha didn't know I have superpowers

I'm a picky eater. Like...super picky. If you know me and this is surprising to you, hi, I'm Tali. We haven't really met.

It's so bad that if I find something untasty/gross/whatever you want to call it, I have trouble physically forcing myself to swallow said item. For YEARS I've been ridiculed for this. And then about 18 months ago, I read an article online that changed my life.

I'm going to post some of it here with a link so you can read the rest of it. Yes, it's from a comedy website, but there are several links, none of which I clicked, so click away. Warning: there is foul language and if that offends you, don't click to see the original.

"Today's pickiest eaters had the bad luck of inheriting a gene that kept the species alive thousands of years ago. There's even an official name for them: Supertasters.

"And while that name might sound like even science is mocking them, it turns out they actually have extra taste buds and are therefore extra-sensitive to something called phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). For supertasters, PTC is to food as beer is to angry drunk stepfathers; it makes everything bitter.

"But back before we had the FDA and award-winning documentaries telling us what was in our food, they were our first and only line of defense. Because toxins are bitter, supertasters could pick out the poisonous stuff and scoot us on our way before we gorged ourselves on deathberries. With literally no other mechanism for detecting poison, our picky-eating friends would have been like superheroes to their communities.

"They were so useful that while all the guys who hear sounds 20 times louder than everyone all died off years ago, the supertaster gene was useful enough to hang around in the mouths of certain unfortunate members of the species. Spinach and Brussels sprouts just taste bad to most of us, supertasters are experiencing every note of the horrible sensation that just crapped in your mouth in hi-def with Dolby digital surround sound."

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_19224_6-wuss-behaviors-that-were-once-badass-survival-instincts_p2.html#ixzz2kmQ34o6l"

I've never lost my sense of taste. Ever. And I could always tell what was being put on my tongue in the taste tests in school. 

So next time it annoys you that I don't like the taste of most vegetables or fruit or fish or pork, just remember: like 400 years ago I would have been lauded. So there. 

...or maybe I'm just spoiled and picky.